Singapore is one of the most fascinating countries you can visit. Just like every other country in this world, this nation has its fair share of mind-blowing and unbelievable facts that will force your jaws to drop. In this article however, we will focus on basic Singapore facts and all the articles on Singapore that follow next, we will learn about those amazing and fun facts. So, without further ado, let’s begin…

Basic Singapore Facts: 1-5

1. Did you know that Singapore is the sole country in this world that earned her independence despite not wanting it in the first place?

2. Singapore was originally a part of Malaysia. It was one of the 14 states that made Malaysia. However, because of political skirmishes between Malaysia’s ruling party – United Malays National Organization and People’s Action Party based in Singapore, steep-rising racial riots took precedence.

3. Parliament of Malaysia eventually expelled Singapore from Malaysia despite Singapore’s (actually People’s Action Party’s) attempt to stick with Malaysia. The expulsion took place in 1965 on August 9.

4. Post expulsion from Malaysia, Singapore became the Republic of Singapore and Singapore’s Legislative assembly became her Parliament. Post independence, the country continued to use Malaya and British Borneo dollar as its currency.

5. The Singapore dollar was introduced two years later in 1967. However, before separating the currencies, the Malayan government and government of Singapore tried to come to an agreement of having a common currency. That did not work out!

Basic Singapore Facts: 6-10

6. Singapore is both a state and a country. While that may sound pretty weird, it is true. One good thing though – the postal system in the nation is pretty uncomplicated.

7. Singapore is a city-state with a representative democracy. People’s Action Party has been the dominating political party since 1959 and the Prime Minister of the country is from the People’s Action Party.

8. The judicial system of the country is relatively simple. High Court is the apex court and then there is a Court of Appeals. Of course, there are several small courts called Commercial Courts. When the Prime Minister of the Nation advices the President of the country, the President appoints the judges.

9. The President of the nation has a 6-year term while legislators can serve only a 5-year term. The role of the President is ceremonial. The real powers lie with the Prime Minister and his council.

10. Singapore is world’s third-most densely populated country with population density of nearly 7,000 people per square kilometer that translates into nearly 19,000 people per square mile. As of 2017, the total population of Singapore stands at 5.71 million.

Basic Singapore Facts: 11-15

11. In Singapore, 63% of the population are actually Singaporeans that is, they are citizens of Singapore by birth. The remaining 37% are foreign-born but are either permanent residents of Singapore or are guest workers.

12. Going by ethnicity, 74% of citizens of Singapore are Chinese while Malays make up 13.4%. Indians make up 9.2% while the remaining 3% come from mixed ethnicity.

13. In total, the nation has 4 languages that are officially used. Those four languages are Tamil, English, Malay and Chinese.

14. Over 50% of population of Singapore have Chinese as their mother tongue. English as first language has been adopted by nearly 32% of the citizens of the nation. 12% of the total population have Malay has their first language and Tamil is first language for nearly 3% of Singaporeans.

15. Singapore has a very complex written language because of multiple official languages. The writing system that is prevalent in Singapore consists of Chinese characters, Latin alphabets as well as Tamil script. The Tamil script comes from Southern Brahmi system of India.

Basic Singapore Facts: 16-20

16. When in comes to religion, Singapore displays a lot of variety with Buddhism being the major religion. Mahayana Buddhism makes up the majority of the Buddhist population. Mahayana Buddhism practiced in Singapore finds in roots in China.

17. Other forms like Vajrayana and Theravada are also quite popular. Nearly 43% of total population of Singapore follow Buddhism.

18. It is hard to imagine Islam not being present somewhere. It is spreading like (whatever word you want to use). 15% of Singaporeans are Muslims.

19. Hinduism, Catholic and Taoism are also present with Hindus making up 4% of the population, Catholics biting in on as 5% of total population while Taoists outnumber the Hindus and Catholics by a handsome margin and stand at 8.5% of total population of Singapore.

20. 10% of people of Singapore come from other Christian denominations and a staggering 15% belong to the class with no religious preference at all.

Well, that completes our list of 20 basic Singapore facts. However, we are not done with facts about Singapore, especially those fascinating and jaw-dropping facts. We shall cover them in upcoming articles.